Archive for the World Travels category
Antarctica
Ice ClimbingDuring a brief period of nice weather last weekend, four of us on the station decided to go over to the bottom of the local glacier and do some ice climbing. Two of us including myself, were first time climbers and personally I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d done a bit of [...]
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Antarctica
Winter offically beginsSo the last boat has left, and we’re on our own for the next 90 days. Not much of a period of isolation I admit, but I’m really looking forward to it. This is a great crew, right up there with the crew at the South Pole Station my first time there. [...]
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Antarctica
Midwinter 2005Happy Midwinter all! This has to be the most unusual midwinter I’ve ever celebrated down on the ice, and as a result it just doesn’t seem like such a big deal. We’ve still got the summer crew here, its still light outside for about five hours a day, and there is a [...]
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Antarctica
Winter comes to Palmer StationThe temperatures are dropping, and the days are getting significantly shorter. Compared to the South Pole, or even most of the northern states in the US, this is going to be an easy winter. Still, for the banana belt of the Antarctic, the 16 degree F temperatures (~-10c) are relatively frigid. [...]
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Antarctica
Gone FishingThe last thing that I expect when I come to Antarctica is the chance to get away from station for a few days. Sure, in McMurdo if you’ve got the right job, or are sleeping with the right person, it’s possible to get one of the rare boondoggles to a remote field camp, but [...]
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Antarctica
Anvers Island Ski ResortI hate to say it, but for all you people working back in the real world, life just isn’t fair. I’m on my third year down on the ice, and I still can’t believe that they pay me to do this. Sure, I put in a lot of hours during the week, [...]
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Antarctica
Animals!We’ve just come out of a two day weekend that featured absolutely beautiful weather. At the South Pole, two day weekends were nice, but I found myself getting bored around noon on Sunday when I got sick of watching movies, and it was too cold to go outside. Here, it doesn’t seem like [...]
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USA
Carnaval Brasilerio 2005One of the many things I love about Austin is the annual Carnaval Brasilerio festival that goes on every February. It’s a huge Samba party thats been going on for about 30 years now, and it’s pretty much the wildest, craziest and most flamboyant party I’ve ever been to. Begun in the early [...]
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Middle East
Petra and Wadi RumAfter arriving in Dahab, I decided to leave immediately to take a side trip to Jordan. On an impulse I decided to join Clare, whom I’d met on the way from Hurgada to Dahab. She was traveling with her family after visiting her brother who was attempting a kayak trip down the entire length of [...]
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Middle East
Abu Simbel and the Valley of the KingsThe temple of Abu Simbel is about 100 miles south of Aswan, and in order to get there at the best time, you have to leave at around 3:00 am. I got picked up in a minibus crammed full with about 15 other bleary eyed tourists who were all snoring more or less soundly within [...]
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